Is There Much Footfall Near Your House ?

[clairelaw123 10]

'Footfall' is absolutely nothing like 'Epic' or 'awesome' you don't get people walking around saying "OMG There was like SO much footfall last night".

I've used the word footfall since I did GCSEs and I'm sure it was used well before that, I really don't see it as an 'in' word.

[natjack 10]

Never thought before that people might not know the meaning of 'footfall' and that it was a retail industry 'in word'. When they say "never use jargon" I never even knew that it was jargon.

 

What's wrong with 'pedestrian traffic'? Nowt, but a cumbersome way of saying the same thing?

[fox20thc 10]

Fail.

 

 

 

 

:hihi: the irony

[moke 10]

what single word would you use to describe the number of people going past your business?

 

it was the word used in my business studies GCSE lessons, and that was 20 years ago!

 

i wouldn't even call it jargon, it's just the right word, being used in the right place! don't blame the star for writing a piece in plain descriptive language for a change!

 

would you prefer "less folk was walkin by shop, so it werent making as much as what it used ta."

[pippa95 10]

no, thank god

[Fareast 10]

moke---how about ' passers-by ' ? It 's more descriptive and accurate than ' footfall ', I think. Also, the number of people actually walking past a shop might have little bearing [ or not much, anyway ] on the number of people actually going into the shop. The shop might be over-pricing itself.....or the ' footfalls ' might be footfalling to a nearby popular attraction. For the sake of simplicity, surely the spokesman for Pollards could simply have said, " Business has declined because so few people now come to this area [ or street ] " Also, it just seemed strange that the word ' footfall ' was used about 4 times in such a short article. I honestly cannot remember seeing it on S.F. or in any newspaper reports----but, I don 't live in the U.K. now-----so maybe I 've just missed its increased usage. Can anyone tell us where they see or have seen it at all in the media ?

[moke 10]

moke---how about ' passers-by ' ? It 's more descriptive and accurate than ' footfall ', I think. Also, the number of people actually walking past a shop might have little bearing [ or not much, anyway ] on the number of people actually going into the shop. The shop might be over-pricing itself.....or the ' footfalls ' might be footfalling to a nearby popular attraction. For the sake of simplicity, surely the spokesman for Pollards could simply have said, " Business has declined because so few people now come to this area [ or street ] " Also, it just seemed strange that the word ' footfall ' was used about 4 times in such a short article. I honestly cannot remember seeing it on S.F. or in any newspaper reports----but, I don 't live in the U.K. now-----so maybe I 've just missed its increased usage. Can anyone tell us where they see or have seen it at all in the media ?

passers by might work for some commercial circumstances, but not for all of them.

 

you wouldn't compare the number of people that walk through different parts of meadowhall as 'passers by' - they aren't just traipsing past.

 

footfall is specific to people passing though a commercial thoroughfare, whereas passerby could be anyone going past anything. All the article was saying was that they feel there was a direct link between the reduction in customers, and the reduction in footfall in the area.

 

we have a rich and diverse language with a vocabulary of words to suit most circumstances. it just seems a bit odd to get uppity when someone uses the right word in the right place!

 

normally people complain when three or four words are used where one will do, and you are moaning about the opposite, but couching it in the same 'plain english' terms.

 

you wont find many incidents of the word being used left right and centre, because there aren't that many articles about that will cover the subject where the use of term would be relevant or even appropriate.

 

just because you arent familiar with a word, it doesn't mean that it is wrong, or indeed that it is oblique. if we went through life like that, we'd all be stuck speaking in single syllables (or even in Leeds).

Edited March 2, 2011 by moke

[Paul2412 10]

If you work in retail, footfall is just a word you use. I expect there are words you use in other industries that I don't know of.

 

Beat me to it, in no way is footfall a latest "in" word at all! It's been used by retail business analysts for decades...

[Fareast 10]

Moke---I think you misunderstood me. I 've nothing at all against ' footfall ' as such-----and I admit I haven 't heard it perhaps because I don 't live in the U.K. now. It just seemed strange that a word that doesn 't seem to be used much elsewhere in the mainstream media suddenly appeared 4 times in one short article.

 

I thought at the time it was another example of people getting ' carried away ' by a word......and over-using it ! [ It was even more surprising, I admit because I hadn 't seen it used before---but that 's my fault ! ]

 

Yes, you 're right, we have got a rich, vast language which is always changing at the edges....and all the better for it ! I 'd just recently suffered from a bad onset of

' awesomes ' by 2 or 3 American teachers out here, so I thought ' footfalls ' was another of the enemy on the horizon !

[Vague_Boy 10]

No !! Not FootBall-----FOOTFALL----it 's the new ' in ' word.!

 

Look at the time, 1947 already.

 

Footfall is a word that has been used in retailing for decades.

 

Some other "new" words you might not have heard of. Computer, metrosexual, DVD, farthing, ten bob note, plastic.

[mrsv 10]

Moke---I think you misunderstood me. I 've nothing at all against ' footfall ' as such-----and I admit I haven 't heard it perhaps because I don 't live in the U.K. now. It just seemed strange that a word that doesn 't seem to be used much elsewhere in the mainstream media suddenly appeared 4 times in one short article.

 

I thought at the time it was another example of people getting ' carried away ' by a word......and over-using it ! [ It was even more surprising, I admit because I hadn 't seen it used before---but that 's my fault ! ]

 

The use of the word footfall is common place in retail, there are footfall counters which monitor footfall in and out of shopping centres, large shops etc so you can check trade levels against footfall. It will have been used four times in the article because it is relevant, not because it is the latest buzz word.

[HeadingNorth 11]

The use of the word footfall is common place in retail.

 

The article to which he was originally referring, wasn't in a retail document. It was in a newspaper supposedly for the general public.